More Dead Elephants in Central Africa

Poachers slaughtered twenty-two elephants of Garamba National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo last month. The carcasses were discovered by aerial survey and ground patrols conducted after collared elephants monitored daily by satellite did not move for twenty-four hours. All the elephants were killed within a day or two of eachother and included eighteen adults and four calves. The poachers were apparently experienced and armed with AK-47 assault rifles, killing the elephants with a few shots to the head. A substantial reward has been offered for information and villagers were interviewed to obtain information about the poachers. The park is located in a politically volatile area where the armed forces of several countries and the Lord's Resistance Army are operating. The Park shelters two to three thousand remaining elephants, one of the largest populations in Central Africa. Until this incident the Park was spared the onslaught of mass slaughter across West and Central Africa.